The Exarchs have won. The living Supernal symbols of oppression rule supreme, while the Fallen World is kept separate by their will. Humans are blind to the wonder of magic, the few who glimpse the truth squabbling over shattered remnants, ancient ruins, and the fragmented writings of lost archmages. Gods sit the throne of reality while men look up in envy and fear. Better to rule on Earth in order to one day serve in Heaven.

From a position of wealth and power in the Fallen World, the Seers of the Throne interpret the will of the Exarchs. In the kingdom of the blind, the Seers are kings. The third great sect of the Awakened opposes the Diamond and the Free Council out of religious obligation — one of many commandments from their faceless, never-seen masters in the Supernal Realms.

The Seers can directly compete with any of the Diamond Orders in their respective areas of expertise, and frequently exploit human culture to a degree that enrages the Free Council. Their battle-mages worship war itself, marching alongside sages who serve the living symbol of control through surveillance. Wealth, power, sex, magic — all are granted in exchange for oppressing humanity and furthering the Lie.

They serve the Ministers, earthly servants of a particular Exarch and the heads of Ministries, each dedicated to a particular form of control over the Fallen World — military force, religious and secular authority in tandem, economics. The Ministries constitute the Iron Pyramid, a massive power structure that extends into Supernal politics with the Exarchs as capstones. Every Ministry is, essentially, a small Order patronized by a particular Exarch, affiliated with hundreds of independent cults dedicated to that Exarch. The Iron Pyramid acknowledges four Exarchs as Archgenitors, and their Ministries as Greater over the Lessers.

The Ministries didn’t invent the forms of human misery they espouse and exemplify, but they draw magical strength from the suffering of the Fallen World. The Mystery cults that spawned the Ministries are still extant, providing the Seers with fanatics and, to their eyes, cannon fodder. The Great Ministries (and those who threaten their stability, such as the capitalistic Mammon) maintain stables of supernatural servant creatures, or deep ties to the societies of creatures that used to be human. Ministries rise and fall with new forms of tyranny, though Seers all pretend that the Great Ministries are eternal.

Core Beliefs: The Will of the Tyrants

Humanity is fallible. The Exarchs are not. By the Seers’ reckoning, the world isn’t Fallen at all — the cosmos is a vast pyramid of power, with the Exarchs on top. The Exarchs rarely speak directly to their servants, except through Ministers and, occasionally, Prelates — Seers of good standing in the Exarch’s eyes, who sometimes experience visions or dream-notions attributed to Exarchal will. Domination is the key theme common to these visions, defining a clear condition of victory but an uncertain method. Cryptic or highly metaphorical, Seers hold these to be tests of their wisdom, with successful interpretations leading to victory over their rivals on the path to power.

Given their once-human origins, so the Seers believe, the Exarchs reward loyal service with magical secrets and a place within Pyramid hierarchy. Many Seers live as plutocrats, supported by the Ministries they serve, rewarded for performing whatever acts their divinations or their superiors demand. Advancement comes when a Seer is strong enough to demand it — most Seers watch their superiors for weakness while working to undermine their inferiors.

• Mages who serve the Exarchs faithfully will be rewarded
• Divination reveals the Tyrants' will
• From the Iron Pyramid comes prestige and servitude

Mysteries

The Seers look for Mysteries revealing the Exarchs’ will, or are directed to them by their divinations. A great many Seers are directed to search for Mysteries under the command of their hierarchy, ostensibly by the will of the Exarchs, but most often to satisfy the whims of their betters (though most Seers assume that if the Exarchs took issue, they’d say so). For their part, Exarchs command the Seers to conquer the Watchtowers by studying Awakenings, control magic by hoarding secrets and mystic sites, enslave the Old Gods and various powers antithetical to Supernal magic, regulate the Abyss, divide humanity with rivalry and resentment to keep them Asleep, and destroy the Pentacle and the Nameless Orders.

By contrast, the Exarchs also direct Seers to protect humanity from existential threats, and renew the vault-seals of ancient horrors called the Bound. Not even the Tyrants wish to rule a kingdom of ashes. More than once in history, this has required making common cause with the Diamond — primarily the Silver Ladder, but occasionally the Guardians of the Veil and the Mysterium.

Last but most important, the Exarchs do take direct action on very rare occasions, sending avatars called Ochemata out from their Supernal palaces into the Fallen World. Ochemata are Supernal entities formed of the Exarch’s symbols, god-like in power, but Seers say each is but a shadow formed of its parent Exarch. Sometimes, an Ochema issues commands to a Seer. Most of the time, they are reserved for tasks the Exarchs don’t trust their slaves with.

Magical Symbolism: The Words of the Tyrants

Seer tools transcend cultural boundaries, relying on the symbolism of their Ministry’s patron Exarch. Seers incorporate Exarch icons into High Speech, runes, and illuminated scripture. Most often, this is an orison to his patron, a prayer for intercession of a Tyrant’s will.

Repeatedly drawing on her Exarch draws a Seer’s soul closer to alignment with her patron’s symbols. After successive castings of high magic, a doorway appears in her Oneiros, leading to a brutal Supernal test of loyalty in a dreamscape controlled by her patron’s servants, with a successful harrowing leading to Prelacy.

Order Rote Skills

• Investigation, Occult, Persuasion OR by Ministry;
  • Hegemony: Empathy, Persuasion, Politics
  • Panopticon: Investigation, Stealth, Subterfuge
  • Paternoster: Academics, Expression, Occult
  • Praetorian: Athletics, Intimidation, Larceny